A film by Sonia Di Stefano

"Be the Hero, Say No: From Your Fast Fashion Hand to Clothes Dump Deserts" is a thought-provoking and visually engaging film that encourages viewers to make conscious choices in the face of fast fashion's environmental impact. It combines YouTube footage, actor recordings, and sound recordings to convey its message effectively.

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Synopsis:

The film revolves around the parallelism between superheroes, who wear the same clothes every day, and personal shopping choices. It highlights the need for individuals to become environmental heroes in the present by saying no to excessive consumption.

The movie begins with a stack of images featuring iconic comic book superheroes. It then alternates between images of abandoned clothes in a third world country and a girl shopping in a low-priced, low-manufactured clothes store in a common Low Cost Fashion Shop in a wealthy country. The juxtaposition of dramatic images and the light-heartedness of the girl's shopping trip creates an ironic tone. The background music adds to the overall atmosphere of the film, alternating between entertaining tunes and the sound of heart rate monitoring machines. The film concludes with a black screen displaying white text, providing written explanations about the sustainable problem. The girl leaves the store without making any purchases, emphasizing the message "Be the hero, say no."

The message is empathised through images and videos of millions of clothes accumulated and discarded in third-world countries in unsupervised open-air dumps. This continuous influx of clothes comes from wealthy nations who continue to sell cheaply made clothes and accessories at low prices, feeding the ingrained capitalist mentality of the average buyer in wealthy countries. Cheap piece of clothing, or one that we no longer want, is often simply thrown in the bin. Where does it go from there? The resulting massive deserts of used clothing serve as a visual representation of the problem. The footage incorporated in the film comes from India, Chile and Ghana, but these are just a few examples of a bigger problem.

The audience's interpretation may vary based on their values and experiences. However, the film's overall message remains clear: individuals have the power to be heroes by rejecting fast fashion and adopting a sustainable and minimalist lifestyle. While the title is “Be the hero, Say No” the subtext screams:" Say no to the temptation of buying that cheap shirt, you don't need it".